1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a portable protection system that can be assembled to establish a protective barrier to a threat, such as a ballistic projectile, a blast, or other such threat. More specifically, the present invention relates to a modular portable structure adapted to carry an armor layer to form a protective wall.
2. Description of the Related Art
In military operations and high risk areas for civilian operations, protection of personnel and critical equipment from ballistic projectiles, explosive ordnance, chemical attack, and forces and objects from detonation of improvised explosive devices (collectively hereinafter “projectiles”) is critical. In order to provide protection of personnel and equipment from projectiles, it is necessary to provide a means of disbursing the kinetic energy of such projectiles to prevent them from reaching their target. An efficient means of disbursing the kinetic energy of such projectiles is to interpose a shield between the objects and persons to be protected and the incoming threat. Shields fabricated from ballistic material are known to provide at least some protection against projectiles. As used herein, a “ballistic” material is defined as having the property of stopping, or severely retarding the progress of, a projectile. However, it will be understood that a ballistic shield may not be completely impenetrable to all types of projectiles under all situations.
In military operations and other such applications, often it becomes necessary to move personnel, equipment, and the like into an area and establish a defensible position while under the threat of attack from incoming projectiles. In such situations, structures incorporating ballistic shields are often used to protect an area from the incoming projectiles, thereby allowing personnel to seek cover from the incoming projectiles behind the ballistic shield structure. When using conventional ballistic shield structures, such as concrete walls or walls formed from sand bags, a problem arises in that such conventional ballistic shield structures are not easily portable, and assembly of such conventional ballistic shield structures is often slow and labor intensive. As a result, assembly and use of such conventional ballistic shield structures while under the threat of attack from incoming projectiles is often impractical.
Furthermore, in certain applications involving the use of ballistic shield structures, it often becomes necessary for personnel protected by the ballistic shield structure to observe and interact with persons and objects beyond the ballistic shield structure, such as for example, during the interaction of security personnel with persons and vehicles passing a security checkpoint. In such applications, it is often desirable to allow one or more security personnel to remain positioned opposite a ballistic shield structure from persons and objects passing the checkpoint while also allowing the security personnel to observe the persons and objects from the relative safety provided behind the ballistic shield structure. In situations in which the threat of attack from incoming projectiles is imminent, it is often desirable to allow security personnel to remain positioned behind a ballistic shield structure while accessing persons and objects beyond the ballistic shield structure in order to interact with and potentially engage and combat such persons and objects.
Examples of conventional shield systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,681,679 to Vives et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,807,890 to Fugua, U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,505 to Levell, U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,788 to Linker et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,446 to Pagano et al., the subject matter of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference. These conventional shield systems are often not readily portable, difficult to assemble, limited in the protection provided, limited to a single set up configuration, support only one type of armor, and are not adjustable to various threat levels or environments. Moreover, these conventional shield systems often do not allow for the observance of and interaction with persons and objects through the conventional shield system.